Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Jute sector stakeholders on Tuesday urged the government to take a proactive diplomatic approach to the Indian government for lifting of India’s anti-dumping duty imposed on Bangladesh’s jute goods export.
They said, imposition of the anti-dumping duty has adversely affected Bangladesh’s jute export to India posing a potential threat to the local jute industry and farmers.
“Local jute industry faced serious setback after India imposed the anti-dumping duty. Exports of jute goods to India have already gone down by 70-80 per cent. Such a situation requires immediate government response,” Md Delowar Hossain, Vice-Chairman of Bangladesh Jute Association (BJA) told The New Nation.
The BJA leader said that the government should start immediate bilateral talks with the Indian authorities seeking withdrawal of the anti-dumping duty. “A proactive diplomatic effort is a must to overcome the situation,” he said.
On January 5 last year, India slapped the anti-dumping duty on imports of jute and jute goods from Bangladesh and Nepal to “protect their own industry”.
For Bangladesh, the duty ranges between $19 and $352 per tonne
Insiders said though the Indian authorities have imposed the anti-dumping duty, they exempted four per cent duty on import of raw jute from Bangladesh to ensure availability of raw materials for Indian jute industries.
“India is a big export market for local jute and jute products. Bangladesh’s annual average export of jute and jute goods was Tk 300 crore. But it drastically came down to Tk 30 to Tk 35 crore since the country imposed the anti-dumping duty,” Dr Mahmudul Hasan, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) Chairman, told The New Nation yesterday.
He said, BJMC has nothing to do in this regard. But the government is trying to withdraw the ban through bilateral negotiation. “A proactive diplomatic effort can yield an early solution in this regard helping the exporters to reclaim share of the potential export market again.”
Bangladesh exports more than 1.10 lakh tonnes of jute yarn to India a year. It also exports raw jute and other jute goods.
“Bangladesh usually exports processed jute-made goods like yarn, twine, sacks and bags worth around US$ 700 million a year. Of this, the Indian market accounts for 20 per cent, which is equivalent to eight per cent of the entire Indian local market share. The country cannot impose anti-dumping duty for this insignificant share anyway. The Indian move is illogical and violation of WTO rules,” Mohammad Shahjahan, Chairman of Bangladesh Jute Spinners Association (BJSA) told The New Nation yesterday.
“The Indian move has seriously affected competitiveness of local jute products leaving a negative impact on jute exports to India,” A Barik Khan, Secretary of Bangladesh Jute Mills Association (BJMA) told The New Nation.
He further said many jute mills in Bangladesh are heavily relying on India for exports of their produces. They may face closure due to high import duty on Bangladeshi jute goods.
“So, we have urged the government to start immediate negotiation with Indian authorities to remove the anti-dumping duty. We hope that the government will be able to change the mindset of Indian authorities in this regard taking advantage of prevailing good relationship between Bangladesh and India,” he said.
Jute is the third-largest export sector of Bangladesh in terms of earnings, after garments and leather, and India is one of the biggest markets for these goods.
Exports of jute and jute goods totalled $919.58 million in the fiscal year 2015-16.
